Stevens Clinches Empire 8’s Regular-Season Title with Win at Nazareth
Rob Kulish
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (October 20, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology field hockey team clinched the Empire 8 regular-season title with a 4-2 win at Nazareth College Sunday and will host the conference tournament at the De Baun Athletic Complex November 9 and 10.
The Ducks are a perfect 6-0 in conference play (10-5 overall) with one game left on their E8 schedule. Utica College is in second place, one game back of the Ducks, but Stevens holds the head-to-head tiebreaker and therefore locks up the tournament's No. 1 seed. A season ago, the Ducks won the regular-season title but had to play at second-seeded Utica due to Hurricane Sandy.
Stevens (10-5 overall, 6-0 Empire 8) scored following their second corner of the game when senior forward
Marguerite Chavez tallied her 11th goal of the season in the seventh minute. Sophomore midfielder
Erin Silvestri was credited with the assist on the play.
The lead moved to two goals when freshman midfielder
Nolie Prouty put in the first goal of her career with 16:45 left in the first half. Senior forward
Rachel Chavez assisted, taking the original shot that Prouty was able to re-direct home.
The hosts sliced the Stevens lead in half with a marker at 32:53 of the first and the two teams went to the locker room with the scoreboard showing Stevens 2, Nazareth 1. Each team had four corners and the Ducks held a slim 8-7 edge in shots.
Nazareth tied the game just 67 ticks into the second, but the Ducks came back, grabbing a stranglehold of field position and possession over the next 11-plus minutes before finally getting a big-time tally from senior back
Grace Ridge via a penalty-penalty corner insert off the stick of
Marguerite Chavez. The goal was Ridge's seventh of the season. Prior to the Ridge goal, Stevens had taken the game's last seven penalty corners and seven shots.
Marguerite Chavez pushed the Stevens lead back to two scores thanks to an unassisted goal with 14:12 remaining, and the Ducks never looked back. They continued to press, generating quality chances and keeping the ball deep in the Nazareth zone. From their goal 1:07 into the second half, the Golden Flyers were held without another shot or corner for the next 22:20 of game time.
Stevens out-cornered Nazareth 14-1 in the second half and 18-5 for the game, also finishing with a 24-13 margin in shots (18-8 shots on goal).
Chavez led Stevens in points with five and now has points in 11-straight games. She has notched three or more points in a single game five times. The co-captain is leading the Empire 8 in points with 36 and came into this weekend's game eighth nationally in assists per game and 19th in points.
Utica and St. John Fisher College have clinched spots in the conference tournament along with top-seed and host Stevens. The fourth spot is up for grabs.
After a loss to Rowan University on Wednesday, Stevens finished the week with two-straight wins, pouring in 10 goals while only allowing three goals against. Freshman
Emily Stukenborg made six saves in Sunday's win for the Ducks. Mary Greco made 13 denials for Nazareth (4-10 overall, 2-4 Empire 8).
Stevens will return to action at William Paterson University October 23 at 7 p.m.